All eyes on safety for National Safe Boating Week

On the Water Front

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, May 12, 2012

Some 230 boats sailed in the Great Vallejo Race from Treasure Island to Vallejo on May 5, historically the nation s largest inland race.

Some 230 boats sailed in the Great Vallejo Race from Treasure Island to Vallejo on May 5, historically the nation s largest inland race.

Photo: Erik Simonson / Pressure-drop.us

All eyes on safety for National Safe Boating Week

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National Safe Boating Week runs next Saturday to May 25. Coming on the heels of sailing race deaths off the California coast in recent weeks, it has sparked impassioned debate on the safety of boating - as well as some great seminars around Northern California.

The comprehensive statistics published each year by the U.S. Coast Guard tell the story: Using a boat, kayak or other craft may be safer than riding a bicycle, and sailing is even safer.

The Coast Guard reports that in 2010 nationwide, 6,062 vessels were involved in about 4,600 accidents, resulting in 672 deaths and 3,153 injuries. But that's out of more than 12 million registered boats (the accident stats also include other unregistered small craft). More than 80 million Americans are involved in boating, by some federal estimates.

An apples-to-apples comparison with other outdoor recreation is tough. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 700 people die and 500,000 people are treated in emergency rooms for bicycle-related accidents each year.

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The vast majority of accidents were in open motorboats. Sailboats were involved in only 350 of those accidents.

Aside from basic water safety such as avoiding alcohol (leading factor in 19 percent of deaths) and wearing a life vest (88 percent of drowning victims had no life jacket), the Coast Guard noticed something else. People who had taken a safe-boating course were far less likely to be involved in a serious accident.

"With our strong winds in summer, currents, the easy access to the Pacific, sailing here is dramatically more rigorous than anywhere else in the country," says Chuck Hawley, a Santa Cruz sailor with more than 40,000 offshore miles behind him. He is also West Marine's vice president of product information and chairs the Safety at Sea committee of US Sailing, which is the sport's national organizing authority.

Hawley was directly involved in US Sailing's independent safety panels convened to review three major accidents last year, and is intently following his committee's work on the Farallones race deaths in April.

West Marine has partnered with US Sailing on Safety at Sea seminars around the country since the mid-1990s. Every major ocean race boat is required to have some of its sailors attend such a seminar every five years. In San Francisco the seminar typically coincides with the biennial Pacific Cup race to Hawaii, which starts July 16.

Hawley estimates that a third of attendees are not ocean racers but are boaters venturing out to blue water, interested in the "bread and butter" topics of heavy weather, navigation, crew-overboard recovery and medical emergencies.

He recalls how one of the highest winds he has encountered was a freak April day in Southern California when the winds topped out at 70 mph. For Hawley, that's a big point of safety seminars: "One of the takeaways is not to base equipment or skills on averages, but to base them on what could happen."

This year's Safety at Sea Seminar takes place Saturday at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo, and a host of other low-cost and free seminars are available through the end of the month. These include Safe Boating Day at Treasure Island, the annual Women's Sailing Seminar at Corinthian Yacht Club, and a course for spouses called Suddenly in Command.

America's Cup in Venice: America's Cup teams are in the "most serene" city of Venice, Italy, this week preparing for racing that is likely to be anything but serene.

Race officials say the race courses will be the narrowest to date, with one course just in front of the Doge's Palace in the shade of the world-famous San Marco bell tower. A second course is in front of the Lido. The historic Arsenale facility hosts the team bases and the America's Cup village. Racing runs Monday through May 20.

Going into Venice, San Francisco's Oracle Racing Spithill team tops the combined standings for fleet racing and match racing in the America's Cup World Series 2011-12, which wraps up June in Newport, R.I. The AC World Series 2012-13 begins in August in San Francisco.

Olympic update: women's match racing: In a thrilling conclusion to four days of women's match racing, Anna Tunnicliffe of Plantation, Fla., Molly Vandemoer of Stanford, and Debbie Capozzi of Bayport, N.Y., won the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta on Monday and will represent the United States in the event, pending confirmation from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

South Bay opening day: If you missed the fun and frivolity of Opening Day on the Bay - or if you are looking for more - the 74th Annual South Bay Opening Day runs Friday-May 20. More info at southbayopeningday.org.

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